“She had the baby?” It comes out breathless.
“That she did.” She narrows those beady eyes my way. “You were there, remember?”
“What?”
She treks off to the garden hose and rinses herself off into Chloe’s planter box.
“What did she have?” My heart palpitates wildly. A bite of emotion hits me hard like a boulder crushing my chest. Gage and Chloe have a child. It’s real. The nightmare has fully formed and come to life.
Could I love this baby the way I love Tobie? I don’t even view Tobie as Chloe’s. I view her as mine.
“Skyla?” Ezrina takes a step back and I hadn’t even noticed she moved. “I said come in. She’s calling for you.”
“Who’s calling for me?” A chill rides up my spine.
“Chloe. She’s rather thankful.”
I follow Ezrina into the house just as my mother and her tribe walk out the front door.
Ezrina could be carrying on a full-blown conversation with me, but I wouldn’t hear it due to the roar of adrenaline shooting through me. She picks up Chloe’s phone on the way upstairs and I follow behind, numb with shock.
The light from the master bedroom glows like a beacon and we walk in, greeted by the metallic scent of blood. Chloe sits wrapped in a blanket, cradling a tiny white cloud to her chest. A bowl filled with crimson liquid has the placenta floating in it like a sanguine aquarium.
Ezrina sighs. “Heathcliff is retrieving a cooler.” She hands Chloe her phone, but Chloe’s eyes are pinned to mine.
“Skyla,” Chloe mewls my name. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am to you. I never thought I’d say this, but I don’t see how I can think another bad thought about you after what you did for me.”
My eyes widen a bit, and this whole scenario feels as if I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole. Chloe gets right to texting with her free hand.
“Gage is on his way.” She tips her head back with relief. “Do you want to see her?”
Her.
It’s as if Chloe struck me over the head with a flat-nosed shovel.
Chloe gave Gage a daughter. The one thing my body tried to give him and failed. In truth, I failed in every way with Gage. Tears come to my eyes and mercifully blur the world. My feet stumble blindly toward the bed as Chloe holds the tiny bundle my way.
“Take her, Skyla. Yours was the first face she saw.”
“It was?”
“How could it not be?” Chloe strums out a dull laugh. “You pulled her right out of my body. Take her, Skyla. She’s as much yours as she is mine.” There’s a softness to Chloe’s voice as if she actually believes the lies she’s spewing. But Ezrina’s odd behavior comes to mind, and it suddenly feels as if I don’t know which way is up.
I take up the tiny bundle and my heart skips a beat.
“She’s lighter than air,” I marvel as I pull her close and uncover the blanket from her face and my stomach drops at the sight of her.
The door swings open and in speed Wes and Gage with Logan coming in after that and Coop and Laken holding up the rear.
Wes stumbles forward and takes a peek at the bundle, his mouth hardening to stone.
“It’s a girl,” Chloe announces. “Skyla delivered her. Isn’t that wonderful?” She says it slowly and measured as if she were casting a spell. “Gage, we have a daughter.”
Her tiny pink face looks back at me. Light eyes, a thicket of black hair, tiny dimples set in either cheek. I’m sure this is what my precious Sage would have looked like had she been brought to full-term and delivered whole and healthy. And for that matter, I wouldn’t have cared if Chloe Bishop—Oliver, herself had delivered her. I would be elated. No wonder Chloe is living out her delirium, accusing me of things I didn’t do. Whatever drug Ezrina gave her must be powerful.
“Here, Gage.” I bypass Wes and hold out the precious bundle. “Here’s your daughter.” My voice is weak and my eyes remain trained on the tiny angel’s precious face as if it were the last time I would see her.
Gage is slow to take her. His hands look mammoth as they do their best to cradle the newborn babe.
